Source: NewVision
FEMALE legislators have asked president Yoweri Museveni to increase the number of women in the Cabinet.
They argued that the current posts are not sufficient enough to foster meaningful representation and the global agenda of women emancipation.
The deputy Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga, said Parliament expects a composition of at least 30% in the next cabinet up from the current 17%.
We must use this opportunity to improve the way affirmative action works, Kadaga said.
The current Cabinet has only 16 female ministers who include eight Cabinet and eight state ministers against 54 male ministers, who include 16 Cabinet and 36 state ministers.
Kadaga was speaking at the launch of the Uganda Chapter of the Women in Democracy Network, a global network that seeks to increase the number of women in leadership through political, public and economic empowerment.
She said increasing the number of ministers ranks high on the women's agenda as the country awaits the formation of the next cabinet in less than three weeks.
Kadaga said although local governments have achieved 40% representation of women, the success may not offer meaningful progress if it is not adopted at national level.
She added that this can be successfully attained if the number of women appointees is increased in the Cabinet, the Judiciary and in government commissions.
Her request was endorsed by all the members with the sitting members saying they had already written to the appointing authority through the Uganda women Parliamentarians association, requesting the President to increase the number of women in the Cabinet.
At the same meeting held at Protea Hotel in Kampala, Kadaga solicited for support from the legislators to become the next speaker of Parliament, saying she wanted to use the seat to push forward the women's agenda and to correct gender imbalances in the legislature.
She said quite often, issues affecting women have not been given priority because of the absence of more women in top positions.
We have made strides in the eighth Parliament but failed somewhere along the way possibly because our message goes through someone else. I want to take over the speaker's job to be able to correct such imbalances, Kadaga said.
FEMALE legislators have asked president Yoweri Museveni to increase the number of women in the Cabinet.
They argued that the current posts are not sufficient enough to foster meaningful representation and the global agenda of women emancipation.
The deputy Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga, said Parliament expects a composition of at least 30% in the next cabinet up from the current 17%.
We must use this opportunity to improve the way affirmative action works, Kadaga said.
The current Cabinet has only 16 female ministers who include eight Cabinet and eight state ministers against 54 male ministers, who include 16 Cabinet and 36 state ministers.
Kadaga was speaking at the launch of the Uganda Chapter of the Women in Democracy Network, a global network that seeks to increase the number of women in leadership through political, public and economic empowerment.
She said increasing the number of ministers ranks high on the women's agenda as the country awaits the formation of the next cabinet in less than three weeks.
Kadaga said although local governments have achieved 40% representation of women, the success may not offer meaningful progress if it is not adopted at national level.
She added that this can be successfully attained if the number of women appointees is increased in the Cabinet, the Judiciary and in government commissions.
Her request was endorsed by all the members with the sitting members saying they had already written to the appointing authority through the Uganda women Parliamentarians association, requesting the President to increase the number of women in the Cabinet.
At the same meeting held at Protea Hotel in Kampala, Kadaga solicited for support from the legislators to become the next speaker of Parliament, saying she wanted to use the seat to push forward the women's agenda and to correct gender imbalances in the legislature.
She said quite often, issues affecting women have not been given priority because of the absence of more women in top positions.
We have made strides in the eighth Parliament but failed somewhere along the way possibly because our message goes through someone else. I want to take over the speaker's job to be able to correct such imbalances, Kadaga said.